User:Ohms Law Bot/Cleanup/Astrovan


 * Astrovan



The Astrovan is a NASA vehicle used to transport astronauts from the Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad before a launch mission, to the pad for launch dress rehearsals, and back to Operations and Checkout Building following a shuttle landing. The current model is a modified 1983 Airstream Excella motorhome, and has been in use since 1984.

Earlier shuttle flights had fewer crew members, so they used the Apollo-era astronaut transport van that now can be seen by tourists at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Apollo/Saturn V Center.



According to Astrovan driver Ronnie King, the astronauts like the history-filled vehicle, even if it is somewhat old, and even argued against upgrading the vehicle. "We were staged to get a new one," King said, and added that word came that the rookie astronauts wanted to keep the vehicle that was a tradition of the astronauts who traveled those nine miles to the pad before them.

During the twenty-minute drive from the Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad, the Astrovan usually stops at least once along the way. An astronaut rides with the crew to the Shuttle Landing Facility, and is let off there to board the Shuttle Training Aircraft and assess local weather conditions. Senior NASA management often ride along as well, and are dropped off at the Launch Control Center.